The Blue Board

Cliffs

Taylor on playing for Saban: "I resisted the change to the 3-4 initially because I had been a 4-3 guy. I talked to him about it and he was short and sweet. He said, 'Look if you play in this scheme, you'll be a hall of famer.'"

Saban on biggest regret he had with Dolphins: "I think the biggest thing was handling the way I left. That's always been a thing with me that I've never felt really good about. The one thing I don't have a regret about is the way we dealt with the players."

Saban on choosing Daunte Culpepper over Drew Bress: "We did choose Drew Brees. I've never talked about this publicly, but that's the guy we made the first offer to and he didn't pass the physical."

Saban on having fun as the Dolphins' coach: "This is a great profession but if you're a competitor you want to win. The fun of it for me has always been the winning. If we had had better luck at the quarterback position we would have had a better chance of winning. We were pretty good defensively we just didn't get the execution we needed at the quarterback position."

Saban on the possibility of going back to the NFL: "I really enjoy what I'm doing here. I'm getting old now so I don't think we have too many moves left in us. You develop a lot of loyalty to the players you recruit. Hopefully, I'll be able to stay here a long, long time and we'll be able to have a lot of success.

Saban on how he handled the UA rumors leading up to his acceptance of the job: "I was trying to do the best thing for our team to be successful down the stretch. I didn't entertain any of that stuff until after the season because I was trying to give our team the best chance to win."

Le Batard asked Saban, "Where is the joy?": "It's here, it's here. Jason (Taylor) knows. When we win I'm the happiest guy in the world. Maybe I don't always show it because I'm worried about the next game, but I'm happy, I'm very happy."

Saban on yelling at people. "We haven't practiced in two weeks so I haven't had a chance to yell at anyone. We're starting back to tomorrow so everybody better tie it on."

Saban on what it's like to stand next to his statue: "I don't really stand by it, number one. The only thing I told them was, 'Look, if there is a statue here, it should be for the team.' I think it's a symbol of what the team accomplished and that's all it means to me."

Taylor asked Saban what the "brook trout look" really is: "I'm glad I finally found out you guys didn't know what I was talking about. Whenever you catch a fish and it's got those dead eyes and the mental energy isn't what it should be, that's what I was meaning. Maybe I should have articulated that better."

Saban on Heath Evans' depiction of Saban showing no concern for an ill Jeno James following a practice: "At the time, no one really realized that Jeno was having as tough of a time as he was. You come in from practice and go to walk upstairs and there are guys laying all over the place. Right after that I was with Jeno, as was Jason. Everyone has their perception of what happens, but Jeno was a great player and I have a lot of respect for him and if I didn't show that emotion at time it was because I wasn't aware of his condition at the time." (After the interview Taylor said Evans' depiction of the events was "not true.")

Jason Taylor gave Saban a "Roll Tide!" at the end of the segment.

Bump to hear the thoughts from the saban haters?

Yeah, that was nice to hear. Jason Taylor is one of those guys that no one really questions. Super guy. Nice interview. Would've been nice to be in the booth and watch Le Betard squirm at not making Saban look like Beelzebub's twin.